[flbrewer]

Just racked my second brew and I noticed this time that I may have poured more of the sludge from my kettle into the fermentor. From what I remember hearing you shouldn't add this, how will this affect my beer? Thanks!

[erockrph]

I think in most beers you wouldn't notice a difference. It will just drop out to the bottom of the fermenter over the first day or so. Unless you are making soething relatively light and clean (like a lager), I wouldn't sweat it.

If you're really worried about it in the future you could let everything settle in the fermenter for a while (prior to pitching yeast), then rack the clear wort into a new fermenter and leaving the trub behind.

[kylekohlmorgen]

You can buy a strainer that fits over your bucket / funnel to keep a good amount of trub (aka 'sludge') out of the fermentor.

Adding Whirlfloc / Irish Moss at the 20 minute mark will help trub settle out.

A whirlpool helps, but if you're picking up the kettle and dumping it out, I doubt its worth the trouble.

Like erockrph said - only matters in lighter flavored beers. I would add that if you're making small batch sizes, reusing the yeast, or leaving the beer in primary for more than 2-3 weeks, straining may be worth considering.

As in all things - RDWHAHB